I'm getting ready to take the plunge-I feel like a panicy bridegroom. I keep anxiously running through all the options but just keep coming back to the TSX.

Only question is the nav. One thing that might be useful: Can you tell it to go around an obstacle? Say you hear on the radio about a problem on such-and-such a freeway ten miles ahead. How hard is it to get it to provide an alternate route?

Otherwise, it seems like a very expensive though very cool toy. If I were a real estate salesman it would be essential. But let's face it, most of the time I get in my car I know where I want to go and how to get there.

Having done a review of my finances for the last year, I find I've already been spending way too much on toys!

Thanks for your opinion on the navi.

chet

 

I find it very useful. In terms of a 10 mile ahead obstacle, you can chnage the route by minimizing freeways and also changing the route from easiest to direct. If you get to traffic and decided to turn off course, the nav will re route itself. I find this feature very helpful. Another option to look @ is if you dont get the nav, and decide to get an aftermarket one later, in my personal opinion you wont be happy with the look or functioning of the nav. I'd go for it, if you can afford it. It looks really good in the car 2.
*The nav Menu also has a "detour" option but, in terms of 10 miles away, I'm not sure how effecive it is .

 

It works very well for planning alternate routes. It's also very handy when someone hands you an address and says to "go there". Sure, you could probably carry maps, but the nav unit saves you time and effort in finding the places. I also really like the "find" restaurant/electronic store/home center/etc. feature, it's very handy in trying to get around Denver (I don't live in Denver, but I drive there quite a bit). I don't think it's a question if you would like the navi (you would), it's a question if the $1800 you'ld spend on it would be better spent on something else. The navi today is like cell phones were 10-15 years ago. People were asking then if they *really* needed a cell phone etc. Now they are becoming a virtual necessity. If the Navi unit were $200 more, would you get it?

 

The main reason I got the navi is that I am moving to Northern VA/DC area in a couple weeks, and I really have no idea where anything is down there. If I were sticking around where I grew up riding and driving around back roads for the past 22 years, I think I would have saved money and passed on the navi, however, driving around a totally new area and not worrying about someone reading a map and missing turns has made it worthwhile in the few days I've owned my car.

To answer your question about the traffic/detours, you can take roads off of the route and it will recalculate your trip avoiding those roads. I'll second gpsiir's praise of the "find nearest place" feature.

 

From the sounds of it, the new RL's navi system uses the XM traffic info to display construction sites and traffic jams on the map. I thought that sounds pretty cool.

 

 

i got a great story for you, this was with my old 2001 Acura TL with Nav, not the TSX but same system basically.
i was heading back from Oceanside CA with my family on my way to colorado.
we were going east bound on I-15 through NV. all of a sudden the traffic came to a dead stop and was backed up for as far as i could see.
it was 117 degrees outside and i decided right there i wasnt going to sit in the heat and wait.
i hit the detour button on the Nav, and as luck would have it it told me to exit the highway in .7 miles.
i took the advice and left the traffic. next thing i know im in a small town to the north of the highway where several truckers also apparently knew this shotrcut around the traffic and the town was beginning to back up with cars.
once again i hit detour, the system routed me to yet another road (dirt road) and again to the north then back to the east. when we found the highway there were about 1-2 cars every 1/4 of a mile as the traffic at the traffic jamb was getting 1 lane of cars through around the accident.
i would say the detour took us around at least 5 miles of parked cars.
now im sure the truckers know the roads pretty well and have plenty of maps. but even a road atlas would never have been able to tell us that these back roads existed. you would have needed a detailed map of this particular town and surroundings to know these roads existed.
it was about this time i realised why the navi was worth every penny.
since then there have been several times just having it on and ready i could look at a road and see a shortcut around traffic.
put it this way, if you dont get the navi, like a lot of people on this board that didnt get it, you will constantly wonder if you made a wrong choise.
so i say if your getting a TSX get the whole enchalada!

 

That same thing happened to me when we took the TSX from TX to WI. We hit bad traffic around KC and hit detour...we just took the back roads around it and probably saved ourselves at least an hour if not more.

 

There's a Detour button!?! : )

I've just been diving off the freeway and letting the Nav system compensate afterwards...

But I don't get to drive it much... it's her car.

 

Uh yeah.

Plot a route...get going on it, then hit menu and detour I believe (I'm not in front of my car). It will give you an alternate route... I use it in Houston too when I hear of a traffic problem in front of me. It guided me through the barrio, but I made it home much faster.

 

why didnt i get navi :'( :'( :'( :'(

 

navi is the best! it's like having a KITT car talking back to you :P

 

My nav has come in handy many times, both in town and out of town. The latest was two weeks ago when I stuck in traffic on Galveston Island, all I had to do was look at the nav map and see which side streets would bypass the traffic. Countless other times it has helped with both directions and phone numbers.

 

I had navi in my CL-S before getting the TSX. I got it because I'm a geek and wanted a toy in the car and besides it's hella cool, right? Well, after a little over two years I became totally dependent and will not buy another car without it. The TSX's navi is quite a bit better, and I can't think of any advantages the CL's navi had over the newer TSX/TL navi systems other than the screen being a bit sharper (albeit smaller). I use it every day!

 

My exact same experiences...

 

Same thing happened to me in OH. Traffic stopped on hwy. Nav made me confident in making and taking back roads. It saved me a ton of wasted time. Priceless. This is just one story out of dozens.

It's not just that you have a built-in map of where you are going, but the fact that the satellites tell you WHERE YOU ARE ON THE MAP. This makes all the difference.

 

Another great point that I have made several times on this site myself. If you are interested in navi information, you should do a search. This topic has been discussed ad nauseum. But I like it so much I can keep talking.